U.S. patent number 9,061,828 [Application Number 14/125,918] was granted by the patent office on 2015-06-23 for hanging and conveying device to hang and convey a vehicle body in a motor vehicle assembly line.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A.. The grantee listed for this patent is Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A.. Invention is credited to Marco Cavaglia', Denny Monti, Giulio Talarico, Elio Tordella.
United States Patent |
9,061,828 |
Monti , et al. |
June 23, 2015 |
Hanging and conveying device to hang and convey a vehicle body in a
motor vehicle assembly line
Abstract
A hanging and conveying device comprising a slide slidingly
coupled to a guide to move along the guide in a given advancement
direction; and a gondola hanging from the slide and comprising an
arched member having a first axis parallel to the advancement
direction and adjustable in position about the first axis, and
coupling means carried by the arched member to engage, during
operation, a floor of a vehicle body arranged through the arched
member; the coupling means comprising two coplanar longitudinal
members provided with pins to couple with and support the vehicle
body, and positioning means to cause the pins to be arrangeable on
the longitudinal members in a number of selectively engageable
alternative positions, to result in different types of vehicle
bodies being selective mountable on the arched member.
Inventors: |
Monti; Denny (Turin,
IT), Talarico; Giulio (Turin, IT),
Cavaglia'; Marco (Turin, IT), Tordella; Elio
(Turin, IT) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A. |
Turin |
N/A |
IT |
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Assignee: |
Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A.
(Turin, IT)
|
Family
ID: |
45420854 |
Appl.
No.: |
14/125,918 |
Filed: |
November 28, 2012 |
PCT
Filed: |
November 28, 2012 |
PCT No.: |
PCT/IB2012/056805 |
371(c)(1),(2),(4) Date: |
December 12, 2013 |
PCT
Pub. No.: |
WO2013/080146 |
PCT
Pub. Date: |
June 06, 2013 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20140224621 A1 |
Aug 14, 2014 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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|
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|
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Nov 28, 2011 [IT] |
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TO2011A1095 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65G
17/20 (20130101); B65G 17/16 (20130101); B62D
65/18 (20130101); B65G 17/485 (20130101); B65G
2201/0294 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65G
17/20 (20060101); B65G 17/16 (20060101); B62D
65/18 (20060101); B65G 17/48 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;198/465.4,867.03,473.1,803.11 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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100 27 730 |
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Dec 2001 |
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DE |
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7-89609 |
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Apr 1995 |
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JP |
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WO 2005/077790 |
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Aug 2005 |
|
WO |
|
Primary Examiner: Deuble; Mark A
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Dickstein Shapiro LLP
Claims
The invention claimed is:
1. A hanging and conveying device to hang and convey a vehicle body
in a motor vehicle assembly line, the hanging and conveying device
comprising a slide slidingly coupled to a guide to move along the
guide in a given advancement direction; and a gondola hanging from
the slide and comprising an arched member having a first axis
parallel to the advancement direction and adjustable in position
about the first axis, and coupling means carried by the arched
member to engage, during operation, a floor of a vehicle body
arranged through the arched member; the coupling means comprise two
coplanar longitudinal members with pins to couple with and support
the vehicle body; and positioning means to cause the pins to be
arrangeable on the longitudinal members in a number of selectively
engageable alternative locations, to result in different types of
vehicle bodies being selectively mountable on the arched member;
the hanging and conveying device is characterized in that the
positioning means comprise, for each longitudinal member, a
plurality of seats distributed along the longitudinal member and
each selectively engageable by a respective pin.
2. The device according to claim 1, wherein each longitudinal
member has a respective second axis parallel to the first axis and
a polygonal cross-section, and is laterally bounded by longitudinal
lateral surfaces; the seats are provided on at least two of the
longitudinal lateral surfaces; and the positioning means further
comprise rotational coupling means to rotatably couple each
longitudinal member to a respective end of the arched member; to
cause each longitudinal member to be rotatable, with respect to the
arched member, about the respective second axis, and angular
locking means to selectively lock each longitudinal member in at
least two given angular positions with respect to the arched
member.
3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the rotational coupling
means are arranged along the respective longitudinal member in an
intermediate position to define, along the longitudinal member, two
bars coaxial with each other and to the respective second axis, and
each provided with a respective pin.
4. The device according to claim 2, wherein each longitudinal
member has a rectangular transversal cross-section and is laterally
bounded by two major longitudinal lateral surfaces and two minor
longitudinal lateral surfaces the seats are provided on at least
one major longitudinal lateral surface and on at least one minor
longitudinal lateral surface.
5. The device according to claim 4, wherein the seats provided on
the major longitudinal lateral surface are arranged in two rows
parallel to the second axis.
6. The device according to claim 4, wherein the seats provided on
the minor longitudinal lateral surface are arranged in one row
parallel to the second axis.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a hanging and conveying device to
hang and convey a vehicle body in a motor vehicle assembly
line.
In particular, the present invention relates to a hanging and
conveying device comprising a slide slidingly coupled to a guide to
move along the guide in a given advancement direction; and a
gondola hanging from the slide and comprising an arched member
having an axis parallel to the advancement direction and adjustable
in position about the axis, and coupling means carried by the
arched member to engage, during operation, a vehicle body floor
arranged through the arched member.
BACKGROUND ART
In general, in known hanging and conveying devices of the
above-described type, the coupling means are specific for a given
type of vehicle body; in consequence, a change in the type of
vehicle body necessarily entails the reconfiguration of each arched
member, by substituting both the mentioned coupling means and their
mountings on the arched member.
Obviously, the above-mentioned reconfiguration operations require,
on the one hand, quite long line stoppage times and, on the other,
the need to store a significant quantity of substitute parts in the
warehouse.
To obviate these problems, some solutions have been proposed in the
past with the object of adapting the structure of the coupling
means to the vehicle body to be carried, and therefore of having to
resort to their complete substitution every time.
Solutions of this type are described, for example, in WO2005/077790
and in JP7089609, in which the coupling means comprise a pair of
longitudinal members, each of which is equipped at both ends with a
pin to couple with and support a vehicle body. To allow the
selective mounting of mutually different types of vehicle bodies on
the arched member, the distance between the pins on each
longitudinal member can be modified either by the telescopic
lengthening of the longitudinal member, as in the case of
WO2005/077790, or by the sliding of one of the pins of the
longitudinal member along a longitudinal guide integral with the
longitudinal member, as in the case of JP7089609.
Both of these solutions, besides giving just limited "adaptability"
to the arched member, suffer from the drawback of introducing
significant structural complexity with the negative consequence of
increasing costs and reducing the reliability of the vehicle body
hanging and conveying device.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle body
hanging and conveying device devoid of the above-described
drawbacks.
According to the present invention, a vehicle body hanging and
conveying device for use in a motor vehicle assembly line is
provided, as claimed in the appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described with reference to the attached
drawings, which illustrate non-limitative embodiments, where:
FIG. 1 schematically shows, in a perspective view and with parts
removed for clarity, a preferred embodiment of the hanging and
conveying device of the present invention; and
FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the device in FIG. 1 in
different operating conditions.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 indicates, as a whole, a
motor vehicle assembly line, in this case for cars, comprising a
guide 2 and a plurality of hanging and conveying devices 3, only
one of which is shown, distributed along the guide 2 so as to move
along the guide 2, in a given advancement direction 4.
Each hanging and conveying device 3 comprises a slide 5 slidingly
coupled to the guide 2 and supporting a suspended frame 6 defining
a guide 7 for a gondola 8 supported by the frame 6. The guide 7 has
the form of an arc of a circle extending around an axis 9 parallel
to the advancement direction 4, and is defined, in a known manner,
by a plurality of support and guide rollers 10; and the gondola 8
comprises an arched member 11, which lies on a plane perpendicular
to the advancement direction 4 and is coaxial with axis 9. The
arched member 11 slidingly engages the guide 7 to assume different
angular positions around axis 9, has a span around axis 9 of
approximately 270.degree. and carries, connected to its opposite
free ends, respective rectilinear appendages 12, which are mutually
coaxial, transversal to axis 9 and facing each other.
The gondola 8 further comprises a coupling device 13, which is
suitable for being connected, in use, to the floor 14 of a
respective vehicle body 15 arranged through the arched member 11
along axis 9. The coupling device 13 comprises, for each appendage
12, a bush 16, which is integrally connected to the free end of the
appendage 12, has an axis 17 perpendicular to the appendage 12 and
parallel to the axis 9, and houses a pivot pin 18 (shown with a
broken line in FIG. 1), coaxial with axis 17 and connecting
together a front flange 19 and a rear flange 20, which are
circular, arranged on opposite sides of the bush 16 and coaxial
with axis 17.
The flanges 18 and 19 carry respective projecting, integrally
connected bars 21 and 22, which are coaxial with each other and
axis 17 and have a polygonal cross-section. In the example shown,
the bars 21 and 22 have a rectangular cross-section and are bound
by two major lateral surfaces 23 and 23' parallel to each other and
axis 17, and two minor lateral surfaces 24 and 24' perpendicular to
the lateral surfaces 23 and 23' and parallel to axis 17. The two
mutually coaxial pairs of bars 21 and 22, together with the
associated flanges 19 and 20 and the associated bushes 16, define
two longitudinal members 25 and 26, each of which is coaxial with
the respective axis 17.
In each of the bars 21 and 22 of each longitudinal member 25, 26,
the lateral surface 23 is a perforated surface having, in proximity
to the free end of the respective bar 21, 22, a plurality of holes
27 that, in the example shown, are arranged in two rows 28 and 29
parallel to axis 17; while the lateral surface 24 is also a
perforated surface having, in proximity to the free end of the
respective bar 21, 22, a plurality of holes 30 that, in the example
shown, are arranged in single row 31 parallel to axis 17.
By rotating the pivot pins 18 inside the respective bushes 16
around the respective axes 17 in a known manner, by hand or with a
specially provided motorized tool, and then angularly locking the
pivot pins 18 via respective radial-pin locking devices 32 mounted
through the respective bushes 16, it is possible to arrange the
bars 21 and 22 of each of the longitudinal members 25 and 26 such
that the respective perforated lateral surfaces 23, 24 are arranged
facing axis 9 and therefore, in use, towards the floor 14 of the
vehicle body 15.
Each of the holes 27 is selectively engageable by a pin 33 of fixed
or adjustable length, which is able to cooperate with a respective
hole 34 made in the floor 14 to lock the vehicle body 15 in a given
longitudinal position along axis 9 with respect to the gondola
8.
In particular, by selecting the angular position of each of the
longitudinal members 25 and 26 around the respective axis 17 such
that the respective perforated lateral surfaces 23 or 24 are
coplanar to each other and facing axis 9, and selecting particular
holes 27 or 30 on these perforated surfaces for mounting the
respective pins 33, it is possible to arrange each pin 33 carried
by one of the longitudinal members 25 and 26 at a given distance D,
chosen from at least three different distances D, from the
corresponding pin 33 carried by the other longitudinal members 25
and 26.
Since the rows 28, 29 and 31 allow the distance of the pins. 33
from the respective bushes 16 to be changed, the use of perforated
longitudinal members 25 and 26 capable of selectively assuming a
number of angular positions around the respective axes 17 solves
the technical problem of adapting, in a simple and relatively rapid
manner, the hanging and conveying device 3 to a relatively large
number of vehicle bodies 15 of different sizes without requiring
the use of substitute parts and/or materials.
Obviously, the solution, provided by way of example and illustrated
in FIGS. 1 and 2, to the above-described technical problem allows
an infinite number of variants, all having in common, on the one
hand, the feature of comprising an arched member (in the example
shown, arched member 11) equipped with two longitudinal members (in
the example shown, longitudinal members 25 and 26) that are
coplanar to each other and, together, define at least one platform
equipped with a support and coupling pin 33 for a vehicle body 15;
and, on the other, the feature constituted by the fact that the
longitudinal members (25 and 26) are equipped with positioning
means (in the example shown, holes 27 and 30 and the rotating
coupling of the longitudinal members 25 and 26 to the respective
bushes 16) able to allow arranging the pins 33 in a large number of
alternative positions that can be selectively occupied by the pins
33, so as to render the aforementioned platform able to allow the
selective mounting of mutually different types of vehicle bodies
15.
With this in mind, a variant, not shown, of the hanging and
conveying device 3 could, for example, comprise two longitudinal
members 25 and 26 that are fixed with respect to the arched member
11 and coplanar to each other to define, on the arched member 11, a
platform for mounting a vehicle body. Each longitudinal member 25,
26 is defined, as in the example shown, by two bars 21 and 22,
coaxial with each other and the respective axis 17, and each
equipped with respective positioning means comprising, in this
case, a carousel coplanar with the other carousels, provided with a
single eccentric pin 33 facing axis 9 and rotating on the
respective bar 21, 22 about an axis that extends perpendicularly to
the respective axis 17 and the position of which is adjustable
along axis 17.
On each carousel, the respective pin 33 could be fixed;
alternatively, each carousel could be equipped with a certain
number of holes, similar to holes 27 and 30, in different
positions, in the radial direction, on the carousel and selectively
engageable by pin 33.
According to another variant not shown, the bars 21 and 22 of the
longitudinal members 25, 26 have a telescopic structure, which
offers the advantage of not only changing the axial position of the
holes 27 and 30 in a rapid and simple manner, but also of adjusting
the overall length of the longitudinal members 25 and 26 to the
type of vehicle body being worked on, so as to reduce axial bulk in
the case of small-sized vehicle bodies.
* * * * *